Congress

Steve Scalise extols bipartisanship, defends Trump in New Orleans address (live video)

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U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise touted the virtues of civility and bipartisanship in Washington and his strong relationship across the aisle with Democratic colleague Rep. Cedric Richmond on Wednesday in New Orleans, even while simultaneously defending a President whose public insults and attacks on perceived enemies is the foundation of his personal style. Speaking at a lunch meeting of the Rotary Club of New Orleans at Harrah’s Hotel, Scalise opened his remarks by reflecting on the miraculous recovery that allowed him to return to the annual Congressional softball game a year after being shot there, then used his ballfield rivalry with Richmond to segue into a discussion of their ability to collaborate on major issues of importance to Louisiana. Coastal restoration, dredging the Mississippi River, funding new medical research, and most recently renewing the National Flood Insurance Program are all areas where the two have crossed party lines to ensure the passage of legislation that had stalled due to fighting within the Republican Party, Scalise said. “What you don’t hear about a lot in Washington is the times we work together, Republicans and Democrats, and especially the relationship that Cedric and I have maintained,” Scalise said. “I think it should serve as a reminder for how we should treat each other, the civility we should have, because there is a lot of vitriol in the language.”

crime

FBI, police respond to emailed bomb threat at De La Salle high school

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New Orleans police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are responding Thursday to a threat of a bomb that was emailed to De La Salle High School on St. Charles Avenue, authorities said. Shortly after 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 15, De La Salle received an email threatening that “a bomb will go off” Thursday if the school in the 5300 block of St. Charles Avenue failed to meet certain financial demands, according to the initial NOPD report.

business

Subway drops controversial plan for Magazine Street location

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The Subway sandwich shop that became the latest flashpoint in the conversation about chain restaurants on Magazine Street has withdrawn its application to open in a partially vacant strip mall there, New Orleans city officials said. Subway began seeking permission to open a new location a corner space of the strip mall at 4637 Magazine Street back in February, but the project drew increasing opposition from neighbors and local-business advocacy groups as it moved forward. In the first meeting after District B City Councilman Jay H. Banks took office, the Subway request was pending on the agenda on deadline, so he asked the council to vote in favor of it to keep the item from dying but promised to investigate the controversy further before giving it final passage — just as he did with a similarly controversial proposal for an ice cream parlor on Louisiana Avenue. At the Thursday (Aug. 9) meeting of the Council, the Subway item appeared again on the regular agenda, right next to the return of the ice-cream shop as well — which Banks led the Council in voting, in a reversal from his May position, to deny.

city government

Five weeks of lane closures ahead for drainage work on St. Charles Avenue in Lower Garden District

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The outside travel and parking lanes on both sides of St. Charles Avenue will be closed for the rest of August and much of September for drainage work and road reconstruction, city officials said. The lane closures between Erato and Euterpe streets will begin Thursday morning and continue for five weeks. For more information, see the announcement from the RoadworkNOLA program below:

Beginning tomorrow, Thursday, August 16 at 7:30 a.m., the City of New Orleans construction contractor, Boh Bros. Construction, LLC, will implement east and west bound lane closures to perform work that will improve drainage on St.

crime

Dollar store robbed on South Claiborne; woman robbed of her car in Hollygrove, police say

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The Dollar General store on South Claiborne Avenue was robbed of its cash at gunpoint Tuesday morning, and a woman on Oleander Street was robbed of her vehicle much later that night, New Orleans police said. Shortly before 9 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 14, a man walked into the Dollar General in the 2800 block of South Claiborne (near Washington Avenue) and grabbed an ice cooler from one of the shelves, according to the initial NOPD report. “He then walked back to the front of the store, sat the cooler on the counter and passed the manager a note that read, “Everything out safe,'” the report states. “The manager looked up, the suspect took a step back, raised his shirt showing a silver-and-black hand gun.

AllState celebrates grand opening in new Broadmoor development

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The development saga that started years ago with the displacement of a small Chinese restaurant from the Garden District ended Sunday with the grand opening of an Allstate insurance agency in Broadmoor, the final tenant in the new Green Tea development there. Green Tea was formerly next door to the Blockbuster video store, but after the video-rental business’s demise, plans were announced in 2014 to convert the entire development into a CVS, displacing the restaurant and other tenants. Last year, however, owner Yung Lau finished construction on a new development for his restaurant at the prominent corner of South Claiborne and Napoleon avenues, which then-Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell hailed as an important milestone in the revitalization of South Claiborne Avenue. Over the past year, a Verizon store leased the second unit in Lau’s development, and on Sunday, his wife, Mei Xiao, opened her branch of Allstate insurance in the third and final unit. The grand opening brought out not only friends and well-wishers, but also new District B City Councilman Jay H. Banks, who praised the couple’s work at the corner.

schools

Audubon Charter’s upper school will move to Banneker campus; Allen building promised to Lusher

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After years of seeking a permanent home for its upper-school, Audubon Charter School has learned its middle school students will move out of their cramped Milan Street building as soon as next summer into the Banneker building much closer to their flagship Broadway Street campus. That decision effectively ends the long-running dispute between Audubon and Lusher over competing claims as to which school will receive the Allen building on Loyola Avenue. After Sci High moves out of Allen and into its new building in Mid-City, Lusher will receive the Allen building adjacent to their high school building, according to reports from the Orleans Parish School Board. Audubon submitted applications to the Orleans Parish School Board to have its middle school assigned to either the Allen building or Banneker, and held meetings with parents over the summer about both possibilities, said CEO Latoye Brown at Saturday’s meeting of the school’s governing board. In July, the OPSB announced that Audubon will move into Banneker after this year’s occupants, KIPP Believe Primary, moves out into its own permanent home on St.

city government

In reversal, City Council denies permission for contested ice-cream parlor on Louisiana Avenue

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After months of negotiations over a controversial proposal for a small ice-cream parlor on Louisiana Avenue and even a tentative vote in its favor, the New Orleans City Council voted unanimously Thursday against allowing the business — yet again demonstrating the council’s growing intolerance of short-term rentals deemed problematic by neighbors. Property owner Reginald Commodore initially proposed that the “Love Kreme” ice-cream shop at 940 Louisiana Avenue with short-term rental apartments attached to it nearly a year ago, but then-City Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell urged him to rewrite the plan without the short-term rental component that drew vehement ire from neighbors. Commodore returned to City Planning Commission with a scaled-back plan that would not require rezoning, and his request for a neighborhood-business permit arrived back at the City Council with a May deadline — just days after Jay H. Banks was sworn in as the new City Councilman for District B.

Some neighbors remained opposed to the smaller project, so Banks asked the Council to pass the motion to keep it from expiring on deadline while he convened more meetings to try to resolve the neighborhood disagreement. He held the ordinance from its final reading — usually a just a routine vote — and on Thursday, brought the matter back to the full City Council. “It’s not ice-cream infused with marijuana, or ice cream laced with alcohol.

business

Union Ramen restaurant proposal in the Lower Garden District receives initial approval

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The plan to create a new restaurant called Union Ramen in the Lower Garden District building was formerly the home of Jim Russell Rare Records has received initial approval from the City Planning Commission, and now heads to the City Council for a final decision. The three-story building at 1831 Magazine Street is being renovated into space for a variety of commercial tenants, but the Union Ramen restaurant requires a a conditional-use permit for a restaurant. Union Ramen — a concept created Jeff and Cat Gapultos, working with Chef Nate Nguyen — will have about 4,200 square feet on two floors of the 11,000 square foot building. “Ramen is something that is very prevalent in some of the larger metropolitan cities around the United States,” said Jeff Gapultos, also a founding partner of Eiffel Society. “It’s not so prevalent here in New Orleans, and we’re just trying to bring this type of cuisine to this part of town.”

Congress

Danae Columbus: Which party will control Congress after the mid-term elections?

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“It could be a toss-up,” said former Congressman Bob Livingston when asked Monday if he thought the Republican Party would stay in power after the November 2018 mid-term elections. “I believe the GOP will remain in control, but I have been wrong on occasion. The Ohio congressional special election will be a good test of Republican strength.” Readers probably know that Republican Troy Balderson, 35, declared victory over Danny O’Connor, 31, after narrowly leading Election Day voting in Ohio earlier this week. The outcome could change — or not — after thousands of provisional ballots are counted. Livingston was one of many New Orleans-area Republicans to attend the funeral of former Councilmember Bryan Wagner, the first Republican to serve in that body since Reconstruction.